Treatment System

Cork Rebel

Lads,

I'm looking for a bit of advise. I have a treatment system installed and at the weekend with all the heavy rain it flooded and the pump and air blower tripped the switch.

I seemed to have got everything working again, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to prevent this happening again.

I was thinking of digging a trench around the treatment plant fill it with stone and possibly put in a yellow pipe to take the water to a small soak pit.

What do ye think and anyone have a similar problem. All suggesstions welcome.

Thanks

Rebel

towbar

which system is it?

Is the air blower in a seperate chamber and if so did water get into that chamber? Sounds like switch got wet.

Cork Rebel

Its an eviropak system.

Yea the electrics and the air blower got wet. The air blower works for a while but is tripping the system. I'm just wondering if the air blower is completly gone now that water has gotten into it or will it dry out.

I suppose my question really is how do I prevent the water building up to such a level again.

towbar

Its hard to tell - fact that blower works ok for a while suggests its ok. You need to make sure there is no water lying in it. It would have taken in water through its air vent. Is it possible that pump is tripping when water level rises in tank? Did you dry out the switch as it wont dry in the chamber.

The thing is you need to get that seperate compartment completely water tight. I know alot of people put it in at same level as tank so in a worst case scenario - no esb in bad weather the water level could rise in the tank and go back into the chamber but at that stage manholes would be overflowing. I have set my chamber in at a higher level than tank so things would need to be really bad for water level to flood into chamber.


The connection between the chamber and the tank needs to be watertight to external water and electrical connection into chamber needs to be sealed tight also. Chamber lid should also be sealed. The air for the compressor is just circulating back from the treatment system.

If there is surface water collecting around the tank then digging a trench would be a good idea but its not necessary for opertaion of the system and the system should not allow it to leak in. If you are talking about draining away tank overflow that would be bypassing your percolation bed and then you wouldn't need a pump at all!!!

Cork Rebel

Towbar,

Thanks for your reply it is very helpful.

I think that I will have to move the box, and was thinking of moving it into the garage away completly from the treatment plant.

Not sure how the air pump would work in this situation, do you think there would be too much of a distance for it to pump air. It would be about 6 feet from the treatment plant.

The idea of the trench is to divert rainwater that seems to be seeping into the treatment plant at the moment and stop it from filling up.

towbar

A trench for rain water would be fine and probably necessary for maintenance purposes. The rain water shouldnt be able to get into the treatment plant though - where do you think it is getting in?

Not sure about putting compressor in garage - not because of the distance but becuase of air pressure in the tank.

In my system the treatment system and air compressor chamber are linked via airtight and water tight pipe 4" wavin. The air that the compresor pumps through the treatment system comes back to it via the 4" wavin that links the two so the whole system remains at a neutral air pressure. If you seal up the treatment system and just feed the air pipe from the garage, the compressor will pick up fresh air in the garage and that air will 'pressurise' the treatment system and the air will have to come back up through a vent pipe possibly increasing smells.

No expert on this but our treatment system failed a commissioning test on first pass because air chamber wasnt properly sealed. I am using a balmoral tank. We also had a leak where the water was pumped out from the tank to go to percolation bed. At first thought it was surface water just lying there but then noticed it only appeared while pump was running.

How are you linking the chamber to the treatment system? Are you sure its surface water collecting around the tank?